Golden Flowers
by AndSoForeverAfter
Summary: Power is found within understanding, and upon learning from her aunt of someone who might know the origin of her powers, Elsa is faced with the choice of either blissful ignorance, or the risk of a hard truth that might shake her now stable life.


**Hello, thanks for clicking, as you are aware I don't own frozen, which is unfortunate, but hopefully I can at least do it some justice!**

_Greta, please let me in! You're my big sister, you aren't going to hurt me-"_

_"I'm not going to hurt you _again _Lia, please just... Just go back home, go where you'll be safe-"_

_"Safe from what?"_

_"Safe from me!"_

_"It wasn't your fault Gret, it barely grazed my arm, the rest was just some snow, accidents-"_

_"Ice has to come from somewhere Ophelia! It doesn't just shoot off the railings, just, please, I don't want to hurt you, or the baby!"_

_"There's no way you could have-"_

_"Lia!"_

_"Arendelle needs it's queen-"_

_"Lia, please, just go away!"_

_The younger sister pressed her back against the door, her feet slowly skidding into she sat flat on the floor, the soles of her pumps squeaking, half-heartedly hoping that her sister would hear. She wasn't leaving anytime soon._

_She rested her hand on stomach, now starting to show under her fitted dress. "What are we going to do?"_

_Greta had convinced herself that the icicle that had been from her frustration, from her anger over something petty, she cried over the cursed magic that was ruining her life._

_"Cursed magic..." Ophelia groaned as she ran her hands through her chestnut hair. She'd since abandoned her crown, having thrown it in her room while chasing her elder sister. "Where would she get the idea that she had cursed-"_

_"She's been like this all week," a male voice interrupted._

_Ophelia turned to see her brother-in-law sorrowfully coming down the hall. The queen's anxious lady in waiting following, a tray of miscellaneous sweets carefully balanced in her hands._

_"What do you think she's talking about?"_

_He gestured to the window opposite her. "That storm a few days ago, something happened with her, but she was by herself and she refused to tell anyone just what, not even myself."_

_"And now she thinks she's cursed." Ophelia bit her lip. Growing up, Greta had always been one to jump to quick conclusions, every bump in the night and shadow on the wall had spooked her, but this... This was beyond anything the girl had done in her 22 years._

_"Is she alright? Whatever happened, she wasn't hurt was she?"_

_"She's fine, physically more so than in the mind it seems."_

_The king pulled a key from his pocket, and offered a hand to bring the young woman to her feet. "I know she wants to be left well enough alone-" Ophelia started, only to admit, "but if she's speaking of curses..."_

_Shaking his head, the king said sternly, "there isn't such thing as a-" he pushed open the door, "curse?"_

_Ophelia gasped in horror. Snowflakes hung in the air as if by a string, frost covered the walls all the way to the ceiling, ice on the floor like a rug, snow banks forming in every corner. Icicles clung to the ceiling just long enough for Ophelia to slip underneath. Winter had made itself at home, the queens bedroom like a frozen cave far off in the mountains._

_What shocked her more than the winter that surrounded her was it's source. Frozen tears plastered Greta's freckled cheeks, and her usually soft dark hair was frozen, sticking up at every angle. Her shawl as stiff as wood as it clung to her dainty shoulders. Her teeth chattered with an intensity that they might shatter. She'd tucked herself into the frosty pillows on the bed, her whole body curled towards her center, arms tightly wrapped over her stomach. There was a fear in her eyes that Ophelia had only ever seen in someone inches from death._

_"Please!" she cried, fresh tears streaking down her face, only to almost instantly freeze. "Stay away, I don't want to hurt you!"_

"I know you'd rather have her side of the story. I wish I wasn't the one that have to tell it, but right now, I'm the only one that might be able to answer a few of your burning questions that they couldn't."

"Did my mother have powers?" the blonde woman asked instantly. She uneasily rested her hands in her lap, each covered by her gloves even in the heat of summer. There were risks in leaving home for the first time that, like her mother, she wasn't willing to take.

Ophelia sighed, her gaze locked on her niece. Years had passed since that evening, her daughter now grown and her niece a queen. Time had gone by too quickly, she wasn't prepared for this inevitable conversation. "Like yours?" she asked rhetorically, "Not quite. We later found out not long after I returned to Corona that the powers weren't her own, but yours. She hadn't even known she was expecting. They found an expert on the subject somewhere outside Arendelle to give them some guidance."

"The trolls?"

She shook her head. "A spellcaster of sorts, as far as I'm aware. She never told your parents the exact cause of your power, but I'm certain she knows now. I wish I could tell you more Elsa, but by the time I received her letter, I'd come down with something. They'd hardly allow me to leave my bed, I hadn't been able to see her for so long, and then my daughter..." She stopped herself, the widely known story wasn't one she planned to get in to. "You were four or five by the time I got to see you, and by then, as far as I knew, you had control of your powers, the spellcaster hardly had to make a visit."

The younger queen awkwardly adjusted herself in the plush armchair across from her aunt. "Did you take sick because-"

"Of the ice that struck me?" Ophelia asked in surprise, "No, Elsa, please don't ever think that, your mother always blamed herself, I was always sick, she knew that, but in her head it was her fault. It never was. You know what she was like."

Elsa didn't say anything, her eyes drifting around the queen's private library. What wasn't covered in books was covered in books was painted in bright colors, most were images of summer, flowers, animals, the kingdom, or the royal family, everything the artist, the princess of Corona, had thought was important over the last three years.

"Do you know where the 'spellcaster' went? Do you think I'd still be able to find her still? Even with Anna's help, I can't master my powers, like I should, but if I was able to understand where they came from..."

"I have a book here," Ophelia said from across the room, "it's the same one your parents used to find the spellcaster. If it's any help to you, you can take it back home with you. If you ever need to find her... Just to be safe. Inherited traits are funny after all." She gently tucked a blonde strand behind Elsa's ear. "Blond hair, powers, it seems to be happen a lot lately, hasn't it?"

She looked away. "Thank you, your majesty."

The queen raised and eyebrow and smirked to herself. "Your majesty? Elsa dear, really, we're family. Should we not be passed all these formalities by now."

"Thank you Aunt Lia?"

"Much better, now," Ophelia threw open the windows, "I'm sure Anna and the others are waiting for you, she didn't come all this way to celebrate the summer festival all on her own I'm sure."

From the window, Anna could be seen running around the castle courtyard to the different vendors and booths that had come from all over the continent, her cousin and Olaf not far behind.

As she turned to leave, Ophelia called out, "Elsa, sweetheart?"

"Yes?" The young queen turned back to her aunt.

"They'd be so proud of you and Anna both. You've grown up to be wonderful young women." She smiled brightly. "Now go on, you've got the rest of your life to worry about your past, enjoy the present for a while, won't you?"

By the time she'd made her way of the the endlessly confusing castle, Anna had crashed on a bench, her many bags piled next to her. Elsa could help but laugh at the chocolate she'd stuffed in her mouth like a chipmunk.

"'Ey Ehuh!" She greeted happily as her sister came close. "Aunt om oc'ate?"

"You mean there's actually some left?" Elsa laughed as she pushed some of Anna's many, many purchases out of the way to take a seat herself.

The younger girl nodded eagerly as she swallowed the last of her own. From one of the bags she pulled out a second box of chocolates. "I got two from every country! The ones from Belgium are my favorite! These ones here. And these ones here are from the new world, and these ones are from France-"

"Did you buy everything here?" Elsa asked as she dug through her sisters bags. A light, linen dress from Ireland, a shawl from Morocco, and jewelry from England were tucked into the smallest bag, she questioned digging through the rest.

"Almost, I have presents for everyone back in the castle, and something for Olaf for his birthday, and Kristoff for our- don't touch that bag!" Anna gasped, ripping the bag from her sister's hand.

"What's wrong with it?" Elsa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a birthday present!" Anna insisted, hugging the bag to her chest.

_Has it been a year already?_

"Alright, alright, fine. Now where's everyone else gone?"

Anna pointed towards a crowd farther down the hill. "They're getting their lanterns for tonight, I told them I'd wait for you first though. What did Aunt Lia have to say?"

Elsa shook her head, her hand instinctively pushing the book further back into the velvet back strung over her shoulder, hoping Anna wouldn't see it and ask questions. "We'll talk about that when we get home, I promise, but if everyone else is waiting-"

Anna has hoped off her bench, stringing the bags strategically over her shoulders. They outweighed the small girl considerably and she wobbled as she tried to walk, insisting to carry everything on her own when offered help.

"Well let's go then, hopefully we'll get there before nightfall."

The strawberry blonde stumbled towards the crowd, and with a satisfied smirk, she cried out, "Way ahead of you!"

She smiled and waved, picking up speed to catch up, but staying far enough back that Anna wouldn't hear her giggling at her expense. Perhaps the queen's suggestion to enjoy stop worrying about the past to enjoy the present might not be so difficult after all.


End file.
